บท 21: Chapter 21

Suddenly, the space around Satoru distorted and the moment Hiroyuki made contact with that very distorted space, his fist came to a pause. It's as if his hand was blocked by some sort of barrier.

"Hmm?"

But, unlike any barrier he had seen so far, no matter how much force he put in his fist, it wouldn't budge even an inch toward Satoru.

Hiroyuki also noticed that he did not feel any contact at all. His fist was just weirdly stopped there as if some kind of natural law decided that nothing was allowed anymore past that point.

"Interesting..."

Seeing his Brother looking distracted by his own thoughts, Satoru immediately took it as an opportunity to strike back. Without hesitation at all, he quickly infused both his hands with 'BLUE' and in one swift move, threw a sneaky punch backward.

swoosh!

But, even though Hiroyuki was looking very deep in thought, he still saw what his younger brother was trying to do.

That's why, before Satoru's fist could even reach him, he already jumped out of his initial spot and was already standing far away.

"So that's Infinity huh?" Hiroyuki said with a curious smile as he observed the distortion that was revolving around Satoru once more.

By now, it is pretty apparent that Hiroyuki has a tendency to deeply analyze every new technique or move he comes across, probably a habit he developed during his previous life.

In any case, this is the main reason why he can't help but be distracted a little bit, given that this is the first time he has seen Satoru use such a move throughout all their sparring sessions.

"It is. I just learned it a couple of days ago. What do you think? Awesome right?" Satoru said as a wide smile crept up on his face, feeling very ecstatic that he finally managed to make something work against his brother.

However, as happy as he looks right now, one can surely see that there are still some beads of sweat at the corner of his face, rolling down. Proof of the remaining nervousness that dawned on him a moment ago.

Initially, even though he confidently left his back wide open and trusted Infinity to block Hiroyuki's attack, he was greatly worried that even Infinity might not work against his brother as well.

He was beaten by him so much at this point that he can't help but have such thoughts.

But seeing that he actually managed to successfully block his brother's fist of love for the first time, he can finally sigh in relief.

"Yeah. I'm pretty impressed, not gonna lie."

Hiroyuki, being a member of the Gojo Clan, is obviously knowledgeable about the Limitless technique.

And because of that, one glance is already enough for him to know that the technique that Satoru had just used is the infamous 'Infinity' which is described to be the Ultimate Defence.

He also knows that to use it, one has to have a tremendous amount of focus and mental strength. Even the experts in the Clan who possess Limitless can only activate Infinity for a fraction of a second.

Meanwhile, his little brother here, apart from the fact that he learned such a move at such a young age, is keeping it all up with little to no effort.

Of course, Six Eyes played a massive role in achieving such a feat, that's for sure, but an achievement is still an achievement, regardless of his gifts. That's why when Hiroyuki said he was impressed, he was genuine about it.

"No wonder you thought you'd finally have a chance. Can't say I can blame you for having such a foolish thought."

"Huh?" Suddenly, Satoru's eyebrows twitched. Looking very confused the moment he heard what his brother just said.

For him, he has every reason to be confused.

Infinity is called the 'Ultimate Defence' for a reason. Unlike any barrier techniques, Infinity utilizes the space itself to protect the user. In short, it cannot be breached or broken unless the User allows for such a thing to happen.

However, despite such a fact, his brother is still talking as if he will still win. That's just plain unbelievable for him.

Of course, even with Infinity at his disposal, Satoru did not expect to win because he was fully aware that he didn't have anything that could potentially take his brother down. At least, not yet.

But Satoru can not be defeated as well.

Although he cannot keep Infinity running forever, he can still use it with no break for hours before getting fully exhausted. And that is more than enough for him.

In the end, this fight will end in a stalemate. An outcome that Satoru is most happy to have. As long as it's not his loss.

Overall, that's pretty much Satoru's entire thought process in this fight. Which, unsurprisingly, is something that Hiroyuki is aware of.

Satoru did not even have to voice it out loud, just his expression alone was enough for his brother to read his thoughts completely.

"Getting pretty cocky, aren't we? Geez, that's not good." Hiroyuki said as he sighed heavily, looking pretty disappointed. "Seems I have to teach you another lesson."

"A lesson?" Suddenly, beads of sweat started forming on Satoru's head again after he heard what his brother just said.

The last time he heard Hiroyuki say something like that, he was beaten black and blue by him and had a massive bump at the top of his head for at least a week. What he experienced that day was enough to make him nervous already just by mentioning it alone.

'But it's fine. Brother can do nothing to me as long as I keep the Infinity up.' Satoru thought as he started comforting himself.

"It seems that you trust Infinity now more than my words huh."

"What? Wait, that's no-"

"It's fine. It's completely fine. I totally understand."

After that, Hiroyuki then started walking around, making Satoru immediately perk up as he started pouring more focus toward his eyes, clearly on guard to whatever his brother may do next.

But unlike his expectation, Hiroyuki did nothing as he just continued going around while speaking out loud.

"Look. I'm not saying that Infinity is bad. It's a very strong defensive technique, really living up to the hype. I truly understand. But completely relying on it... is just dumb."

"Dumb?"

"Indeed. It isn't the Ultimate Defence as everyone thinks it to be... in the first place, there's no such thing as Ultimate Defence. Trust me, I know some people who also thought they had an impenetrable defense, but still failed in the end."

"Do they also have Infinity?"

"Well... they have something similar. My point here is that, in the end, they all learned that solely relying on it is not very good. It might feel good at the start but once you face beings who can easily pass through your defense, you'll be more vulnerable than usual. Like a crab that just lost its shell."

"Then... Nii san... are you telling me that you can bypass Infinity?" Satoru, despite his rising nervousness, raised enough courage to speak up and act as confident as he could be.

Although he utterly failed to do the last part.

His expression crumbled down the moment he met his Brother's gaze.

"Unfortunately no, I cannot..."

Hearing his brother's reply, Satoru was suddenly filled with intense relief. Because he knows that his brother is not the kind of person who would tell lies in situations like this, so in case Hiroyuki says that he can somehow get through Infinity, then Satoru knows that he's pretty much done for.

Thank goodness he can't. Or at least, that's what Satoru had hoped for... before it was shattered to pieces.

"Is probably what you're hoping for me to say." Hiroyuki said as a mischievous smile crept up on his face.

"Of course I can. Did you forget who I am?"

___ To be Continued... ___